Abdicated
by DarknessAhead
Summary: A story, sort of a fanfiction, based on a Group Home RP I'm doing with friends right now. The RP's really great and it gave me the idea to write a story based on it. It will have different events and different characters than in the roleplay.
1. Home's rules

**Sakura Group Home rules;**  
\- children living in this house are between the age of eight and eighteen.  
\- Swearing is NOT allowed in this house. Swearing will end in punishment.  
\- The use of cell-phones is prohibited while doing homework and between the hours of 9pm and 7am.  
\- If inappropriate behavior, such as PDA, horseplay with violent intentions, disobedience, or deliberate discrimination towards another member of the home is discovered, all involved will be punished.  
\- There will be NO alcohol NOR drugs and cigarettes in the house. If caught with these supplies there will follow punishment and EVERYTHING will be seizured.  
\- Weapons are NOT allowed in the house, neither outside; if caught with a weapon, punishment will follow and ALL weapons will be seizured.  
\- No rooms will be shared by different genders, no matter of sexuality.  
\- No outsiders will be brought in to the house without a valid reason and approval from the parents.  
\- Doors will be locked at 8pm every night, and unlocked at 6am each morning, with the exception of work duties.  
\- If classes at school are discovered to be skipped, punishment will be in order, including grounding, confiscation of items such as cell phone, MP3, laptop, and other privileges temporarily dissolved.  
\- Pets are allowed; pets that make no mess nor loud unbearable noises. This means cats, dogs and birds like parrots aren't allowed (type of bird has to be discussed first and small dogs and cats are only allowed if they're truly trained).  
\- In each room there will be sleeping a maximum of four people.  
\- Ask the parents for permission on skipping school, bringing over friends, adopting pets or buying music instruments and vehicles.


	2. Prologue

They say that everyone is different, and that we should be proud of who we truly are inside, because different isn't boring, it's special.  
But what if we're different for the wrong reason? What if we are troubled, addicted, misbehaving? They might show us pity but deep down inside they hate us.  
We are outcasts, they want us to stay out of society, away from others. They don't want us anywhere near them.  
We were mistakes, we were abandoned, mistreated, because we 'deserve' it, they told us.  
But don't they know we have feelings, too? Don't they know that with a little support we can live a better life? Don't they know they made us the way we are?  
But they still keep blaming us. They want us to change, while they stay the same. And as a last measure to get back their own miserable lives like they once were, they send us away and we end up in hell on earth: a group home where we will live till we're eighteen, where they will try to actually change us 'for the better', they say.  
Tell me, is hell better than reality?


	3. Chapter 1

**Month: December  
Day: Monday  
**

_Yukiteru:_  
Sitting at the kitchen table the boy simply stared at his hands which rested on the wood. He just had gotten back from school and his schoolbag was still hanging from his back. In the corner of the kitchen stood the boy's luggage; he was going to leave this house today, forever.  
A woman entered the room, her arms folded, a sad and worried expression on her face. She stared at the boy sitting at the table, she wanted to speak but shut her mouth before any words could come out. She hesitated, thinking, before continuing what he had been trying to do.  
''Hey Yuki, do you have everything packed? Are you ready to leave?'', she asked and the boy called Yuki simply nodded once, not saying a word, but his mind screamed something else: _''No…''  
_''Okay... You know it's for the best, right?'', the woman, known to Yuki as Linda, asked again and Yuki nodded once more. _''Is abandoning me for the best? Really?''  
_''Okay, let's go then…'', Linda said and she grabbed Yuki's luggage, giving the bag to the boy, after that she left the kitchen and went towards the front door. A moment of hesitation but soon Yuki followed the woman, he was quiet, a sad expression on his face; he felt betrayed.  
At the front door stood Brandon, Linda's son and the boy Yuki felt feelings for, love feelings to be more exact. Brandon knew about it, and had started to ignore him for it. Yuki's feelings for the boy were the reason why they sent him away to a group home, why they abandoned him.  
He glanced at Yuki, his eyes were dull. Once Yuki looked up and their eyes met, however, Brandon quickly looked away, pretending like he didn't see the poor boy.

''Bye Brandon.'', Yuki said, rather bluntly, but there came no answer; Brandon wanted him to leave, he never wanted to be confronted with him again. _''Have it your way.''_, Yuki thought, looking away from him and stepping out of the house. The door was shut behind him and he followed Linda towards her car; his bike had already been attacked to it, Linda was now putting his suitcase in the trunk of the vehicle.  
Yuki didn't want to leave, but it was for the best, they had told him. But Yuki knew better; he was different, that's why they wanted to get rid of him. He hadn't even protested, he had accepted it; why should he fight against something he couldn't win? He had already been through the 'different' thing, he had learned not to fight back destiny. Because after all, this was his destiny, wasn't it? This is what his god wanted him to learn, this is what his god wanted him to know; he wanted to punish him. _''God doesn't exist. Not anymore.''_, Yuki thought and he walked down the small steps, ignoring Linda who gave him a comforting smile, and he stepped in the back of the car, shutting the door with a slam, but his face stayed rather expressionless.  
Linda got in the car as well and after a moment the engine started to roar; the car took off. Yuki looked through the window, watching as his old house slowly disappeared behind the horizon, and new houses shot by. He sighed and rested with his head on his hand, staring at the people, the houses and the cars passing by.  
Nothing could save him now, there was no god that could bring him back here. He was doomed to stay at a foster home, he was doomed to live a miserable life without real parents, without love and friendship. _''It can't be that bad, right…?''_

Upon arriving at his new house, after a few hour drive, the car stopped and Yuki stepped out, closing the door behind him. He went to the back of the car and took out his suitcase, dragging it along onto the sidewalk. He then waited for Linda to step out of the car, as well.  
''Are you feeling alright? Nervous?'', Linda asked as she came to stand beside him. She looked down at him, smiling weakly like she was trying to comfort him and make him feel better, but Yuki didn't need her pity. _''You wish.''_, he thought annoyed, but his face didn't show any expression at all. _''I feel terrible.''_  
Yuki forced a weak smile on his face, his blue-greyish eyes staring up at her. there was a slight sparkle in them, but everyone who cared about him at least a little bit would know he was far from happy. ''I'm fine.''  
''Great. Get your suitcase and let's go to the door.'', Linda responded and she stepped towards the front door, Yuki followed her silently, his bag carried on his back and his suitcase rolling behind him, heavy from all his luggage; being a rather girlish boy he had loads of different sets of clothes, which filled up most of his suitcase.  
Linda rang the doorbell and not soon after a woman opened the door, a woman with long reddish hair and brown eyes. She had a few freckles on her face, she appeared rather tired.  
''Hello, I'm Mandy Black, one of the parents who run this household.'', she said with a weak smile, shaking Linda's hand. Linda returned the smile, but brighter, it ticked off Yuki, but he didn't say anything.

''And what's your name, boy?'', Mrs. Black then asked, looking down at him. Her smile was still weak, but her eyes didn't show happiness nor comfort; she wasn't happy to see him, he was just another burden to her, a liability. Yuki didn't say anything, he just stared at the ground, his eyes not meeting the woman's. Linda seemed worried and quickly answered for Yuki, making sure Mrs. Black got his name right.  
''He's Yukiteru, Yukiteru Reed. Fourteen years old.'', she said and Yuki looked up at her, an annoyed look on his face. ''Jason.'', he said bluntly and he stared Linda in her eyes, she swallowed and looked back at Mrs. Black.  
''Y-yes, Yukiteru Jason Reed, that's his full name.'', she stuttered slightly. Yuki looked away again, blocking out all the noises from around him. He saw the women's lips moving but there was no conversation, not to his ears.  
It didn't take long before Linda said goodbye and turned around, leaving Yuki behind as she stepped into her car and drove off. She honked twice as she left but Yuki didn't lift his hand to wave, he just stared at the moving vehicle until he felt a hand grabbing his arm and tugging him slightly.  
Yuki still didn't say anything, he just followed the woman into the house, into his new home. As he stepped inside she closed the door behind him and jut walked off like she didn't care, and Yuki stood there lonely in the hallway, feeling rather nervous and scared; this new place made him feel uncomfortable.  
_''Rude…''_, he thought as he stood there on his own, looking around him. Next to the front door hung something on the wall. At first Yuki thought it was a painting or a photo, but it seemed to be a white piece of paper, black words scribbled on them. The home's rules, it seemed. Yuki read them all carefully, one by one and tried to remember them before leaving the hallway, searching for his bedroom.

_Brad:  
_''Fucking piece of shit! Take your hands off my stuff!'', Brad yelled as he pushed his friend Benjamin, after that taking a phone from the boy's hands. ''That's fucking mine and you better remember it!''  
All Benjamin did was shrug and grin at Brad, acting like he didn't care.  
''It's my room, too. we share a room, remember?'', he asked and he shrugged once more, the grin not leaving his face. ''We share a room, so I thought we shared our stuff as well. Also, who is that Nathalie in your number's list, hmm?''  
''That's none of your concern, just a person from school; I'm doing a biology project with her. Just… hands off my stuff, it's MINE!'', Brad yelled and he opened a drawer, throwing the phone in it, and he closed it again. He turned back around to face Benjamin, a nasty look on his face.  
''Yeah right. I'm out, later dudes.'', Benjamin said, waving his hand while the grin on his ace only had gotten bigger. He walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him, disappearing out of sight.  
Brad sighed irritated and looked at his other friend and roommate Benny, who preferred to be called Dingo, laying on his bed and listening to music, huge headphones covering his ears. His eyes were closed, his hands folded behind his head.

''Did you hear him?'', Brad asked irritated, he didn't really care if Benny didn't respond; he just felt like ranting over what just had happened. ''That annoying ass, he should stay away from my stuff.''  
Benny smiled and opened his brown eyes, he looked at Brad. ''Why that smile? Stop it.''  
''Aw come on B-rad, let him have some fun. You know how curious Ben can become, but it doesn't matter. He's just annoying, but he doesn't mean any harm.''  
''You're oddly nice about him today.'', Brad said, folding his arms and staring at Benny, an annoyed frown on his face. Benny took a deep breath and sat up, stretching his arms, turning off his mp3 and taking off his headphones.  
''Oh well, what can I say; he promised me his dessert for tonight.'', he said and he winked. Brad looked confused for a moment but soon he began to understand it.  
''Oooh, you beat him with cards again, didn't you? And I guess you two made a bet, and you won the bet?'', Brad asked and Benny chuckled, nodding. ''Good job Dingo, you teach him.'', Brad said and Benny laughed, doing what he often did, and what had caused him his nickname.  
He brought his hand in the air, turning it into a fist and he yelled loudly: ''Woo, woo, awoooo!''  
''Dingo, shut up! Or do you want the foster parents on our asses again?''  
''I don't care what they think, they can think whatever they want of me. I just don't care.''  
_''Yeah, I don't either, they can rot in hell… But I've already been in enough trouble.''_, Brad thought, shaking his head at Benny, who seemed to understand his hint and shut up, laying back down on his bed and returning to his music. ''Just don't worry about Benjamin.''

_Benjamin:  
_Whistling the boy walked through the hallway, ending in front of another bedroom's door. He knocked on it gently at first, but when no response came his way he started slamming. Not too long after a girl's voice told him to fuck off; Benjamin grinned.  
_''What a lovely day to annoy the girls.''_, he thought. He wanted to continue on his walk but as soon as he turned around he bumped into something, or someone. He almost fell but was able to keep his balance. The other person who had hit him however was now sitting on the ground, his body shivering, face hidden in his hands. It was a small boy, probably around the age of twelve, Benjamin hadn't seen him before.  
''Yo dude, why did you run into me, man? I was here first, so it's your fault, and you better have a good reason for this.'', Benjamin said, he sounded angry, but actually he wasn't; he was just a bit annoyed, but he didn't want to sound friendly because he had a status in this house, a rank, and he had to maintain that rank, even though he now really wanted to grab the kid's hand and help him up. ''What's your name, man?''  
''Y-Yuki…'', the boy whispered, looking up at Benjamin finally; his blue eyes were red and puffy, tears streamed down his face. Benjamin sighed in agitation. _''Oh no, it's a wimp…''_  
''Look, Yuki. I'm Benjamin, call me Ben, I don't care. Just get up and find your room and settle down. Don't cry, I hate crybabies, I hate emotional people. So stop crying and get out of my way, please.'', Benjamin spoke, his words sounding rather harsh, but he didn't mean it, he just felt agitated.  
he walked past the boy, not giving him a hand with getting up or with taking his luggage to the boy's room; he simply left, off towards the kitchen to grab some food.

_Yukiteru:_  
Yuki sniffled and got to his feet, staring at Benjamin as he just walked off like that. He wiped away his tears but they kept coming, he felt really nervous, really uncomfortable. There was a huge blush on his face; he felt ashamed for bumping into this boy. He should have taken a better look at where he went off to. But still… _''Are they all rude in this house…?''_, he thought, swallowing.  
Without thinking more he turned around and grabbed his bag and suitcase, dragging it along the doors which all led to bedrooms. He could hear talking on the other side, two boys. Yuki shook his head; he didn't want to share a room with anyone, not yet. He wanted to be alone, he wanted to be able to get used to his new surroundings.  
He finally reached a room which seemed empty. Opening the door and peeking inside he saw four beds, all empty; there was no stuff in the room. Yuki sighed and entered it, choosing a bed and shoving it luggage underneath his bed.  
He laid his bag down next to the bed, on the other side. Sitting down on the edge he sat there for a long while, staring at his hands which were folded on his lap, there was a sad expression on his face.  
_''I wanna go back… I miss Brandon. I don't want to stay here…''_, he thought, taking another deep breath. He shut his eyes, trying to push away the sad thoughts he had.  
When he had finally calmed down slightly he looked at the clock, seeing it was 6pm; there would probably be dinner soon, but Yuki wasn't hungry. He sighed again and got up from the bed, grabbing his luggage and pulling it out again, opening the suitcase.

He began to take out stuff and put it in drawers on his side of the room, eventually bringing his toothbrush and toothpaste to the small bathroom that was on the other side of a small door in the bedroom. He put everything in placed and returned to his bed. Looking at the clock he realized it was already 6:30pm, it didn't really bother him though, he wasn't going to eat dinner anyway.  
Looking into his suitcase once more he found his beloved cat plushy Mr. Whiskers, an orange colored cat with brown tiger-like stripes on his back and green eyes. One of his eyes was lose, hanging from his eye socket by a small thread; it gave the cat a sad expression.  
''Aww, you're hurt…'', Yuki whispered and he held the cat close to him. ''I'm sorry…'', he continued, petting the plushy's heads as he kept holding it in his free arm. ''Maybe someone is willing to fix your eye for you. If they don't laugh at me for having you as my best friend, that is…''  
Yuki suddenly felt his stomach turn with uneasiness. He looked behind him to make sure no one was there; he actually wanted to put Mr. Whiskers back in the suitcase again, but he also wanted his best friend by his side. However, he was afraid others would think it was weird, having a plushy at this age. After all he was fourteen already, even though he appeared and acted younger. ''No, I will keep you with me… We will be fine, I hope…''  
''What a cute little kitty you got there. What's his name?'', a girl's voice suddenly asked and Yuki turned his head quickly, staring at the blond haired girl with widened eyes. She stood in the doorway, smiling at him. _''W-who is she…?''_


	4. Chapter 2

**Month: December  
Day: Monday**

_Anastasia:  
_''What a cute little kitty you got there. What's his name?'', Anastasia asked, stepping into the room as she eyed the younger boy. she smiled at him brightly, trying to comfort him, because he seemed rather scared with his big blue eyes, filled with shock.  
She moved closer to him carefully, placing her hands on his shoulders, kneeling slightly so she stood on eyelevel with him.  
''His name's Mr. Whiskers…'', the boy whispered and Anastasia's smile got brighter. She squeezed his shoulders slightly out of happiness.  
''He looks really sweet. I'm sure you love him a lot.'', she answered and the boy nodded, a blush on his face. He avoided eye contact. ''I'm Anastasia, you but you can call me Anna or Ann if you like. What's your name? Oh, and what happened to your plushy's eye?'', she continued, pointing at the little green eye that hung by a thread.  
The boy shrugged slightly, still not looking up at her. He opened his mouth to speak, his words were whispers and hesitant: ''I'm Yuki… Mr. Whiskers got hurt because I… cuddled him too much…''  
Anastasia smiled brightly at the kid, patting his head to comfort him; Yuki seemed really sad and Ann just wanted to help him. _''He's such an adorable child.''  
_''Well Yuki, dinner will be up in a few minutes; you arrived just in time.'', she said and she automatically grabbed the boy's hand, as if she was trying to be a mother to him. ''Wanna grab a bite with us?''  
_''Not that I'm going to eat…''  
_  
Yuki shook his head, clamping to Mr. Whiskers firmly. He didn't look at Anastasia still, but he kept holding on to her hand, which was at least a little start to a new forming friendship. Anastasia looked worried at him, squeezing his hand slightly.  
''Oh come on, please come to the kitchen.'', she pleaded, hoping Yuki would give in. ''You don't have to eat if you don't want to. It's just some way to meet the others. There are a lot of other people in the house as well, you know.''  
''O-okay…'', Yuki finally whispered and Anastasia held his hand tighter, pulling him towards the bedroom's door. As they entered the hallway and went to the kitchen, she said: ''It will be fine, you don't have to worry about anything. Just stay close to me and I will protect you.''  
_''He will be fine as long as Brad and the other two boys don't pick a fight with him…''_, she thought however, worried about the boy's safety. _''He's so young and small, they will crush him if they start an argument… especially mentally. He seems like a rather emotional boy…''  
_Upon entering the kitchen Yuki hid behind Anastasia, blushing greatly and staring at the kids that were already in the room. Anastasia couldn't help but smile, trying to encourage him. She dragged him towards the dining room which was in the next room and found a seat. She patted the chair beside her, telling Yuki he could sit down. _''As long as Yuki stays sweet and quiet and the boys aren't pissed at something, everything will be fine. I hope…''_

_Brad:  
_Entering the dining room Brad stretched his arms and yawned, sitting down on one of the chairs. He blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes before he looked up and stared at Anastasia. A grin appeared on his face and he started to wiggle his eyebrows at her.  
''Sooooo… Ann, how's it going?'', he asked with a flirtatious tone in his voice. ''Did you miss me?''  
Anastasia smiled at him, but she had already been smiling when he entered the dining room so he quite got fed up with her expression by now.  
''Oh yes, I've missed you very much.'', Anastasia joked, her expression not changing at all. Brad sighed in irritation and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, bored.  
''Gosh Ann, you're never even irritated a slight bit, are you?'', he asked and he saw Anastasia shake her head, a giggle escaped her throat. _''Annoying girl. Ellie and Olivia are a better fetch. Even though Anna has this gorgeous body, oh my.''  
_''Brad, can you stop staring at my chest please? It scares me…'', the sudden words of the girl shook him out of his daydream. He quickly sat back straight in is chair and grinned again, shrugging.  
''I'm sorry, you just look so hot.'', he said, trying to scare her some more.  
''Stop it…'', she whispered, looking at the wooden table. Brad's grin continued. _''You want me to stop?''_, Brad's arrogant voice ringed in his head. He leaned forward and opened his mouth, like he was ready to say something, but then his eyes fell on something else; a boy sitting next to Anastasia, probably around the age of twelve, but Brad could be wrong.

The boy blushed even more than Anastasia and stared at his lap, his body shaking slightly, his blue eyes widened in shock. A few strands of his black hair were hanging in front of his eyes, but his body was so stiffened that he didn't even bother wiping them away. _''Who is this little thing?''  
_Brad frowned, leaning forward over the table some more, but now moving closer to the boy. ''Hey little shit, who are you?''  
His words hit the kid like a bomb and he looked up at Brad, terrified. His body shook even more and he clamped to something he held in his arms, firmly. It was a cat plushy. Brad grinned once more. _''That kid has a plushy? Really? How cute… how annoying.''  
_''That plushy? What's its name, hmm? And what's yours?'', he asked, his voice sounded forcing; he wanted to scare the living shit out of the poor boy.  
''Y-Yuki… I'm Yuki… and this is… Mr. W-Whiskers…'', the boy whispered, looking away from Brad. _''Mr. Whiskers, really? Oh my god, it's even worse than I had expected. Such a stupid name. Sweet…''  
_''Mr. Whiskers huh?'', he asked and Yuki nodded, blushing greatly. ''Yuki, okay. I'm Brad, Brad Anderson.''  
He brought his hand forward, like he wanted to shake it, but actually he was reaching for the cat plushy, ready to rip it away from the child and cause him harm. But before he could proceed his plan someone called him.  
''Yo Brad, come help me in the kitchen please. I can't carry all the dishes here.'', a girl's voice sounded; it was Ellie's. Brad sighed in irritation and got up from his seat, moving out of the dining room and into the kitchen.

_Ellie:_  
''Guys! Dinner!'', Ellie yelled as she grabbed a few dishes in each of her hands; tonight's dinner was pizza, Ellie had made it all by herself. She was pretty proud of her salami pizza, staring at the oven in which it was hiding; the oven had turned off not too long ago; pizza was ready.  
Brad entered the kitchen, an annoyed look on his face; he strut like a zombie, showing Ellie he wasn't in the mood to help her. It pissed her off, she snorted at him.  
''Brad come on, stop acting like an ass and get the pizza out of the oven, and bring it to the dining room. Oh and before you bring it to the dining room, cut it into a few slices. I heard a new person arrived at the house today so I guess slice a few extra.'', she told him, ordering him around. Brad stuck out his tongue and moved over to the oven very slowly, opening it, muttering under his breath: ''Yes, mom.''  
''Oh, how hilarious. Is everyone in your family this funny?'', she asked. She knew he would get angry, that he might try to hit her again like he had done earlier. Brad wasn't one to hit girls but since Ellie had told him she wanted to be treated like a boy, he had cursed at her and hit her in the face. She didn't care though; she had hit him back twice as hard, with a fist.

She left Brad where he was and entered the dining room with the dishes, looking at the table as now people had entered and were coming together, finding their seats. Benjamin was sitting in the far corner, together with Benny on his right, Olivia was sitting on the other far corner, on the opposite side of the two boys, her arms folded, her tank top too tightly again like always; she loved showing off her body and Ellie felt disgusted every time she looked at the girl.  
But she didn't show it, instead she placed the dishes on the table, giving everyone one to use. Then her eyes fell on the boy sitting next to Anastasia, she smiled as she gave the kid a dish for dinner.  
''Hey there, I'm Ellie. I guess you're Yoki?''  
''Yuki…'', the boy corrected her and Ellie giggled, standing beside him. She said: ''I'm sorry, I meant Yuki. Thanks for correcting me, I'm not good with names. But don't worry, I will learn.''  
Yuki looked up at her, smiling slightly, he simply nodded and held a cat plushy firmly in his arms. Ellie actually disliked personal belongings at the table, like phones, plushies and other stuff, but since Yuki was new to the house and seemed really shy and scared, she decided not to pay much attention to it.  
''is everyone here? Where is Zeleb?'', she asked, looking at Benjamin and Benny, who both shrugged; meanwhile Brad came back with the huge pizza, sliced. He placed it on the table and sat down on his seat. Ellie looked at him, a worried look on her face. ''Have _you_ seen Zeleb?''

Brad shook his head, he didn't say anything. The room was completely quiet for a moment, until 'sexy babe' Olivia made a nasty remark. ''I don't care where he is.'', was all she said, her arms still crossed over her chest. She looked up at Ellie, a I-hate-you look in her ocean blue eyes. ''Come on, let's eat.; I'm starving.''  
Ellie nodded, a sad look in her eyes, and she found a seat, grabbing one of the pizza slices. She muttered something like ''dig in'' and took a bite from her slice. Her blue eyes with a grey tint to them stared up at the doorway as two figures stepped into the dining room; a man and woman: Mr. and Mrs. Black, the foster parents.  
They took a few slices for themselves, together with two dishes and turned back around, leaving the dining room in silence. It always went like this; everyday. They would come in and grab some dinner for themselves and then leave, maybe snatching away some beer out of the fridge on their way back upstairs. Upstairs was forbidden to the kids; if you went upstairs you would get into trouble.  
''Well, I guess we can all go eat now, with our without Zeleb…'', Ellie muttered and she took another bite from her pizza slice. By now everyone had started grabbing their pieces and eating, everyone except for Yuki, who was staring at his empty dish silently. Ellie looked worried at him, she felt for him, he looked so sad. _''Why isn't he eating? Isn't he hungry…?''  
_Ellie decided not to worry about it; she worried more about Zeleb right now; he hadn't shown up yet even though he loved pizza. She knew about his… issues. The last time he had skipped dinner Ellie had found him in his room, completely drugged. She was afraid he had used again, and during dinner that was all that stayed on her mind.


	5. Chapter 3

**Month: December  
Day: Monday**

_Ellie:  
_8pm, dinner was finished and at the moment Anastasia was cleaning the dishes. Yuki hadn't eaten anything at all, he had just been sitting there during whole dinner doing nothing but staring at his dish. Yet he had offered to help the girl with cleaning the dishes, probably because he wanted to stay close to Anastasia; Anastasia had told Ellie that Yuki felt safer near her because she was the first one to be nice to him.  
Ellie hadn't really paid attention though, she had accepted his help and straight after dinner she had gone to the bedrooms to see if Zeleb was anywhere to be found. Upon entering his room Brad, Benny and Benjamin were there, being Zeleb's roommates. But there was no sign of Zeleb, nowhere.  
She looked worried at the three boys and they knew what she thought, so they simply shrugged at her.  
''You really don't know…?'', she asked, her fear of finding Zeleb drugged again, growing. Brad sighed and shook his head, actually showing a worried expression for once. Maybe because Zeleb was a friend of his. ''We're really sorry Ellie, we just don't know.''  
''haven't you looked for him?'', she asked and Brad shook his head again. Ellie snorted at him and shut the door behind her, yelling: ''You don't care at all!''  
She moved quickly through the hallway, looking into every bedroom for Zeleb, even in her own, but he still wasn't anywhere to be found. Until she came across the main bathroom.

She could hear a sound, the sound of someone barfing. It sounded like a boy; her heart skipped at beat. She moved towards the door, knocking on it, but there came no answer, instead the barfing noise continued steadily. _''Doesn't sound too good… I hope it's Zeleb.''  
_Ellie had never been close to the boy, but she felt responsible for the kids in the house, especially when they were younger than herself. Zeleb was one of those people, and since he was addicted to cocaine and heroin he often got himself in trouble, causing Ellie to worry about him and care for him even more. _''Please be Zeleb, please be fine…''  
_''Zeleb? Yo, Bad Boy? Are you in there?'', she asked, knocking the door again. She found the door unlocked and entered the bathroom. ''Are you alright…?''  
Her eyes fell on a figure hanging above the toilet a grey hood, attacked to a hoodie, pulled over his head. ''Zeleb… Were you hear all these hours…? What have you been doing? You didn't use again, didn't you?'', Ellie asked worried and she sat down beside the boy, patting his back, carefully; she didn't want him vomit more.  
Zeleb groaned and shook his head, he moved his hand towards Ellie like he wanted to push her away. He vomited again, spit out the last bit, a few tears rolled down his cheeks.  
''I just don't feel so good…'', he whispered, his breath got stuck in his throat; more vomit came out as he tried to breath. He wiped his mouth afterwards, as well as his face to get rid of the tears. ''I guess I'm sick… Don't tell anyone I cried or I will kill you.''  
Ellie chuckled and rubbed the boy's back, nodding and saying: ''Of course, my lips are sealed.''  
''Thanks Ell…'', he muttered and he sat back up straight, flushing the toilet. ''Oh my god, I feel like crap…''  
''Let's bring you to your room so you can sleep. It's 8pm and they might probably lock the front door so you can't go for a night walk.'', Ellie said and she helped the boy up, taking him out of the bathroom.

_Zeleb:  
_He really felt like shit, there weren't any words that could possibly describe how sick he felt right now. As soon as they entered his bedroom he avoided eye contact with Brad, Benjamin and Benny, staring at the ground as Ellie lead him to his bed and laid him down. _''If they stare at me I will scratch out their eyes…''_, he thought annoyed as Ellie pulled the bed sheets over him.  
''Hey Bad Boy, you feeling okay?'', Brad asked and Zeleb glanced at him, angrily.  
''Piss off.'', he muttered bluntly, rolling onto his side and pulling the sheets up to his chin, closing his brown eyes firmly.  
''Hey, I was just paying interest, don't get pissed at me now.'', Brad responded and with a huff the boy sat on his own bed. Zeleb opened his eyes again and looked at him, groaning slightly. His eyes then met Ellie's, she smiled comfortingly at him.  
''Hope you feel better soon, I was worried about you, you know.'', she said and Zeleb snorted, looking away from her. _''Don't say that, the others might think something of it…''  
_Zeleb's fear became reality when Benny started speaking up, doing the thing he did usually. Zeleb quickly covered his head with his pillows, trying to block out Benny's annoying yelling and she shame he felt towards his own friends.  
''Woo, awoooo!''

''Shut up Benny!'', Benjamin yelled and he threw his pillow in the boy's face, stopping him from acting idiotic. ''I'm trying to listen to my music here!''  
''Don't call me Benny!'', Benny yelled, angrily jumping from his own bed to Benjamin's and knocking the boy over and onto the ground in the process. As Zeleb laid there watching them in silence, Benny and Benjamin were wrestling on the floor. Ellie and Brad didn't pay much attention to it.  
_''They're like nasty pigs…''_, Zeleb thought, shaking his head in annoyance. Brad sighed and returned to laying on his bed and reading a book for school; biology class. Zeleb in the meantime sat up straight, trying to prevent himself from vomiting again. He swallowed, trying to get rid of the nasty taste, and looked at the two resting boys, feeling sick to his stomach. He wanted to sleep, but they way they would keep him awake.  
''Guys stop it! Zeleb is sick, he needs to sleep!'', Ellie yelled, the girl moved over to the two boys and grabbed Benny's arms, pulling him off of Benjamin and pushing him away from her. After that she forced Benjamin to stand and she stared at the two boys in anger, her arms crossed. ''Stay quiet or leave this room, got it?''  
''And where will you go, hmm? What if we leave this room, will you and Zeleb get it on?'', Brad asked, his eyes still directed at the pages in his schoolbook, but there was a slight grin on his face. Ellie looked at him, ticked off, and dashed over to Brad, grabbing the older boy's biology book and hitting him on the head with it.  
''Give. Him. some. Rest!'', she yelled and Brad groaned, punching Ellie in her stomach and taking back his book, but she didn't seem to feel any pain. She looked angrily and spit at him, just missing his face and she turned around, leaving the bedroom and slamming the door shut behind her.  
The three boys laughed as Ellie left, but Zeleb just groaned and pulled his pillow over his head again, closing his eyes, trying to sleep.

_Olivia:  
_Standing in her bedroom she stared in the big mirror, turning around a few times as she puffed out her butt and wiggled it slightly. She glanced at her waist and her breasts and groaned, annoyed.  
''I wish I had breasts like Anna; mine are so small.'', she muttered at herself. Just at that moment an angry Ellie opened the door and entered the room. She stormed off to her bed and sat down, taking off her shoes.  
''Well well well missy, don't we knock before entering?'', Olivia asked, pushing out her booty again and placing a finger on her lips, a questioning look on her face. She blinked a few times at Ellie and Ellie simply groaned and laid down on her bed, facing the ceiling.  
''Stop being such a hoe Olive, jeez.'', she muttered and Olivia stared at her angrily, hands now placed on her hips. _''Oh no, she did not.''  
_''What did you call me, missy?'', Olivia asked and she moved over to Ellie, bending over the girl and looking her straight in her eyes. ''Tell me, bitch.''  
''Jesus Olivia, I just called you Olive, is that such a big deal?'', Ellie asked and she sat back up, pushing Olivia out of her way. Olivia almost fell but was able to hold her balance; she was really angry now.  
_''That bitch.''_ Was all the thought but she didn't say anything. She just moved back to the mirror and stared at her own reflection, satisfied with how she looked.  
''Don't I look hot? Look at my booty. Look at it.'', she said, forcing an answer out of the annoyed Ellie; Olivia pretended like she had already forgiven the tomboyish girl she shared rooms with. ''All that's left are big breasts and I'm ready for everything, girl.''

''Yeah yeah, you look really good.'', Ellie muttered and she grabbed her phone, texting someone. Olivia turned around and looked at Ellie, grinning slightly, amused.  
''You were so worried about Zeleb during dinner. Have you found him already?'', she asked and Ellie nodded, Olivia's grin got bigger. ''Really? And? Have you two made out?'', she asked and she closed her blue eyes, sticking out her tongue and moving it around while her face was directed at Ellie.  
''God no, I don't like him. I was just worried because…'', Ellie said but she stopped speaking, it was like she didn't want to say something which was on her mind. Actually Olivia couldn't care less whether or not Ellie liked Zeleb; she just wanted to tease her. ''…Stop doing that with your tongue, it's disgusting!''  
She grabbed her pillow and threw it at Olivia, but the girl quickly dodged it. Out of anger Ellie threw herself back onto her bed, laying there.  
''Gosh Ell, don't be such a drama queen. Live life to the fullest, enjoy every second of it, like I do.'', Olivia said and she winked, blowing a kiss at Ellie with her hand. Ellie waved with her hand like she was trying to get rid of that blow kiss, listening to her music again.  
_''She's indeed drama queen number one.''_, Olivia thought and she sighed, turning back around so she could look in the mirror again. _''I don't care.''_

_Yuki:  
_After finishing the last dishes Yuki sighed and look at Anastasia, who finished cleaning her last one as well. She smiled at Yuki and grabbed his hand, while Yuki grabbed his plushy Mr. Whiskers; he was dragged along by the girl, leaving the kitchen and entering the dining room.  
''Where are we going?'', Yuki asked, a bit nervous as he eyed Anastasia. She turned her head to look at him, still smiling, and kept holding his hand.  
''I felt like watching a movie, I'm sure you don't wanna stay in your room all alone, right?'', she said and Yuki shook his head, blushing; she was right about that. ''We can watch a movie together, here in the dining room. There's the TV.''  
Yuki nodded and followed her silently, until she tapped the couch, telling him he could sit, and went to the TV to find a movie. ''What movie do you wanna watch? We have a lot here.'', she said and she looked at Yuki who just shrugged. _''Anything is fine as long as I can just sit here and let time go by quicker…''_, he thought, not wanting to go to his room and be there completely alone for the rest of the evening.  
''We have… Driving Miss Daisy. With Morgan Freeman. You like that?'', Anastasia asked again and Yuki nodded.  
''Mhm.'', he mumbled, not in the mood to speak a normal word. His eyes were focused on the black TV screen, which got turned on by Anastasia. She put in the DVD and went to the couch to sit beside Yuki. They sat there in silence as Anastasia got the remote and started the movie. _''I don't want to be in this house, I want to go home…''_


	6. Chapter 4

**Month: December  
Day: Tuesday**

_Benjamin:  
_At 4am his alarm clock had rang, now it was 5am and he was outside on his bike, in the pouring rain with a cycle-bag full of newspapers, which had to be delivered before school would start for him. Not that he would go to school, he preferred to stay out in the city smoking and talking to people; his future was already destroyed because of this home he lived in, why bother trying to fix it? School had nothing in store for him, because he didn't want to learn anything, he didn't want to become anything.  
_''I hate fucking rain… Every time during winter!''_, Benjamin thought as he sat on his bike, pedaling through town, an irritated look in his brown eyes; his blond hair was soaked and a few bangs were hanging in front of his eyes, they bothered him a lot. _''Every. Fucking. Time. It. Rains. When. I. Have. To. Fucking. Deliver.''  
_He sighed and then groaned loudly in irritation. Staring at up at the dark sky his eyes almost got blinded by the lanterns; after all it was still pitch black outside. Winter and delivering newspapers around 5am; something Benjamin actually preferred not to do. But he had the job and he needed money, so he better not fuck things up. He _did_ skip school, but this job earned him money so this was the least he could do, besides sitting lazily on his butt all day. School didn't give him money, not one single dime. _''Tomorrow it's Christmas; Olivia's birthday. I should get her something nice.''_, he thought as he stopped and put his bike on its stand near a house, grabbing a newspaper and moving up to the door to put it in the mailbox, shoving the newspaper inside. _''Maybe a set of sexy lingerie.''  
_A grin appeared on Benjamin's face at the thought. Most girls would kick a boy's butt if they would give them lingerie as birthday present, but that was actually the only gift Olivia ever asked for. That, and a night with a boy, sharing one bed. _''Too much work; I want a peaceful Christmas Eve.''_

He grabbed his bike and continued on his 'quest', cursing at the rain and kicking against almost every tree after stopping and finding raindrops soaking the newspapers. _''This is hell, I need a better job. I get paid way too less for this shit.''  
_''Good morning Ben, you're up again early as always.'', the sudden voice of a girl addressed him. Benjamin turned his head as he grabbed another newspaper from his bag, moving over to the front door. There stood a beautiful girl with long brown hair and dark brown eyes. She knew he delivered at his house, she knew at what time he always arrived and at which days, and it annoyed Benjamin, because he knew why she did it. _''Desperate bitch…''  
_''Here you go Elizabeth, enjoy your newspaper.'', Benjamin said, handing it over to her. The girl took it from him and looked at him with a flirtatious smile on her face. Benjamin smiled back at her in a nice manner, but deep down inside he groaned for her to leave him alone. _''Why me? There are many other delivery boys out there.''  
_''You know I don't read the newspaper; my father does.'', the girl called Elizabeth said, her voice sounded rather disappointed, but she kept on flirting with him anyway, her hand resting against the doorway, keeping herself balanced. _''Of course you don't; you can't read.''_, Benjamin thought annoyed. He knew his thought was false; at least she went to school, so she sure could read, but he was really getting fed up with her at the moment.  
''Well, I gotta go deliver some more, bye.'', Benjamin said and he wanted to walk off, but Elizabeth grabbed the bag hanging from his shoulder, keeping him from going any further.

''Where are you going, handsome?'', she asked grinning and Benjamin sighed, turning back around. she stepped forward and pretended to fall, wrapping her arms around Benjamin's neck to seek for support. ''Ooooooh, I'm so sorry!'', she yelped, but her remorse was soon far from existing as she planted her lips on Benjamin's.  
Pulling back she looked at him grinning, teasingly caressing his chin with her fingers. ''There; all better now.''  
_''If I could hit a girl she would be the first one to get punched in the face with a true fist.''_, Benjamin thought, he clenched his fist. This girl was so annoying, she always waited for him during the morning when he had to work and she always harassed him, but never as bad as this; seems like she had grown even more bold. _''Ah well, maybe I can play along. I know some tricks to get rid of her. She might hate after this, but I don't care. As long as she just lets go of me and leaves me alone, I'm happy.''  
_''You got some balls trying this out on me.'', he said, grinning back at her and he kissed her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He could feel her kissing back and it disgusted him, but he had a plan. A bad plan, probably, but he would soon be rid of her.  
Pulling back he looked at her, and she looked back at him, a sad look in her eyes as her grip around him tightened. Bringing her face up to his ear, she whispered, breathing in his neck: ''Don't stop now…''  
_''Alright then, plan goes in action.''_, he thought, his grin widening. She was a flirt, but he was a pervert, and he wouldn't hesitate to use anything perverse against her if she would keep on bugging him like this.

''You want more?'', he asked teasingly and he moved his hands away from her waist, moving them up to her chest. Immediately Elizabeth's eyes widened and she took a step back, but Benjamin didn't stop there. He kept on touching her chest, his grin growing bigger ever time. ''You asked for it, bitch.''  
''Stop it! Let go off me! Asshole! I will call my father!''  
A fist in his face, the sound of something cracking and the warm feeling of blood running down his nose. He gasped and reached for it, feeling the blood stream onto his fingers. He looked up to see Elizabeth running into the house, yelling for her father, while slamming the door shut behind her.  
_''That fucking bitch!''_, Benjamin thought, groaning at the stinging pain in his face. But she was gone, at least he was free at last. _''Could have ended worse… Hopefully she will leave me alone from now on. I don't want a desperate bitch like her. Better get out of here before her dad catches me.''  
_Benjamin wiped his nose, using the sleeve from his light grey hoodie. Looking down at it he saw deep red blood soaking it. _''Oh my god, gross. She has a rather strong fist…''  
_He grabbed his bike and jumped onto it, driving off as quick as he could. He delivered the other newspapers in the same street as fast as possible. After he was done he hid somewhere, making sure she or her father wouldn't come after her. But the door to her house stayed closed so he only sighed in relief. Great, she was gone, he wouldn't have to worry anymore. _''I still need to do a few more streets…''_, he thought, realizing it had stopped raining. But as soon as he realized and looked up, new drops fell on his face and head. _''Every fucking time… The weather hates me!''_

_Yukiteru:  
_It was cold in his room, it was dark. Yuki opened his blue eyes and blinked a few times, staring at the clock; it was already 6am, but outside it was still pitch black; mainly because it was winter. He yawned and sat up straight in bed, stretching his arms. After that he sat there for a long time, staring at the dark corners of the bedroom, his eyes landing on three empty beds.  
Yuki got out of bed finally and pulled his bed sheets in the right place, taking off his pajama shirt and pants; light blue with little brown teddy bears on it. Yuki was glad he had a room of his own, until new boys would arrive; no one would be able to see his pajamas, because he liked them, but at the same time he felt ashamed, as well.  
He opened a drawer next to his bed and took out his clothes, trying them on; a brown long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. He put on his white sport shoes and went to the bathroom in the small room next to the bedroom to brush his teeth.  
It didn't take long before he was finished cleaning his teeth and brushing his hair, but as soon as he stood back in his bedroom he looked nervously at the closed door; this was a new place, a new home. rules were different in this house, and he wasn't sure if he was allowed to leave his bedroom yet. He was afraid he would bump into one of the parents and get scolded at.  
_''Would Anastasia already be awake…?''_, he thought, walking over to the door and opening it. He peeked into the dark hallway, it was all so dark he could barely see a thing. But as he kept his mouth shut and held his breath he could hear voices coming from the room next to him; some boys were speaking.  
So a few in the house were already awake, but none of them were out of their rooms; Yuki wasn't sure yet what to do. But he decided to make a bold move. Sneaking out of his bedroom he closed the door behind him carefully, trying not to make a noise, and stepped over to the bedroom's door next to his, knocking on it.

''Who's there?'', a voice sounded, followed by another voice who muttered to the boy who had spoken first: ''Don't open the door, maybe it are the parents.''  
there were footsteps and the door opened, a rather long well-muscled boy stood in front of Yuki, black hair to his shoulders, brown eyes and a few piercings in his face; it was Brad, the boy he had met the night before.  
''It's just that new kid, don't worry about it.'', he said as he looked down at Yuki. Poor little Yuki stepped inside the room and Brad closed the door behind him, grinning at the kid. ''Why are you up so early? What are you doing here?''  
''You know, I could hear you outside… if you it had been the parents, they would probably be really angry by now…'', Yuki whispered and Brad looked angrily at another boy in the room, one with long red dyed hair, with black ends, and brown eyes.  
''See, they could have heard us. Now shut the fuck up before it actually are the parents standing in front of our door.'', he blamed the boy, who just shrugged and smiled at him.  
''I don't care, they can go to hell.'', the boy said and he straightened his dark red pajama shirt, jumping back into his bed and rolling around into the covers. ''Aaah, good warm bed~''  
''You sicken me.'', Brad muttered and he stepped away from Yuki, looking at the little boy for a moment. ''Yuki, right? I'm Brad, and this idiot making love to his bed sheets is Benny, but better call him Dingo or he will skin you alive.''  
Yuki nodded at Brads words, blushing slightly; he felt really nervous and uncomfortable here, and wondered why he had actually entered this bedroom in the first place.

''Oh, and that is Zeleb. Don't wake him, he feels sick.'', Brad said as he pointed as a sleeping boy on the right side of the room. The sheets were pulled up to his chin and his eyes were closed. It looked like he was still wearing his normal clothes from the last day.  
Yuki nodded again, staying near the door, his back leaning against it. He felt too scared to step deeper into the room, but he couldn't turn around anymore. ''How old are you, actually?'', Brad suddenly asked, startling Yuki, as he looked at the younger boy with narrowed eyes.  
''Fourteen…'', Yuki mumbled and Brad whistled before sitting down on his bed.  
''Really? I thought you were younger.'', he said, actually showing interest into him; his expression seemed honest, compared to last night when he had suddenly reached for Yuki. Yuki had felt really uncomfortable near him that night.  
''They often think I'm younger… I look younger than I truly am… And I act younger…'', Yuki whispered, wrapping his arms around his own self, as if he wanted to hug and comfort himself.  
''Why are you here?'', Benny suddenly asked, turning his head to look at Yuki as he pulled his sheets over his chin.  
''I… I don't know… I woke up and felt lonely and I heard voices in here so I came to take a look and… When are we going to have breakfast? Who will make it…?'', Yuki said, looking at the two awake boys. Brad shrugged and Benny responded with: ''Mostly it are the girls, girls like Olivia for example, who make breakfast.''  
Just at that moment Yuki could hear noises outside this bedroom, footsteps in the hallway and a muttering voice; it sounded like a girl's. He looked confused at Benny who grinned evilly. ''See, she's already up and ready to cook for us. What a lovely house maiden.''  
''don't say there when she's near you; she will kill you.'', Brad said, chuckling at Benny's words. He then looked at Yuki, waving his hand as if he wanted to boy to leave them alone. ''Go to the kitchen, scoot off. Maybe she can use your help or something. After all you're the only person besides her who is out of their room.''

Yuki swallowed and opened the door quickly, stepping out of the bedroom and closing the door behind him. His body shivered and a few tears streamed down his face; they were so mean towards him, he didn't feel at home in this house at all.  
Trying to stop himself from crying he left the hallway and entered the kitchen, peeking inside the room to see if anyone was there. As he stood there lights suddenly switched on and he looked straight into the chest of a girl. Staring up he saw two ocean blue eyes and long brown curly hair, and a black mole on the right side of her cheek.  
''What are you doing here this early in the morning?'', she asked, her arms crossed, her voice sounded a bit harsh, like she was demanding an answer immediately. Like she didn't care about his feelings, like she didn't see the wet spots on his cheeks caused by tears. ''Well?''  
''T-the boys… said I had to help you make breakfast… s-so here I am…'', he whispered and she frowned, an annoyed look on her face, but soon her eyes softened.  
''You shouldn't listen to those assholes. Get back to bed and sleep some more. I will call for breakfast.'', she said but Yuki shook his head and said: ''But I already got myself dressed… And I could help, right…?''  
''Fine then. Get some coffee mugs and dishes and knives and forks.'', she said, pointing at a drawer at the kitchen counter. ''And bring them to the dining room. I will make some omelets and get the packs of juice from the fridge.''  
Yuki nodded and obeyed, stepping over to the kitchen counter and opening the multiple drawers to get what they needed; dishes, glasses, forks and knives, coffee mugs, anything.

He brought everything to the dining room and placed it on the table, getting back to the kitchen to see the girl making coffee and doing other things to prepare breakfast. She looked at him and smiled, her expression was quite teasingly.  
''Done already?'', she asked and Yuki nodded. The girl, which Yuki assumed was Olivia, stared at the clock, seeing it was getting close to 6:30am and looked back at him, waving her hand at him. ''Go sit down at the table, I will take care of the rest.''  
Her voice was far from happy and friendly, but Yuki guessed she meant it alright. He nodded at her and wiped his face dry, getting rid of his last tears that had stuck to his cheeks. After that he turned around and entered the dining room, sitting at the dining table.  
He took the same spot he had sit at yesterday, when he sat beside Anastasia. He hoped she would come sit next to her again, because he only felt comfortable around her; the other children in the house were a bit… different.  
He sighed and stared at the table, waiting for whoever to enter the dining room. He wiggled his toes as he sat there in silence, his heartbeat wild. His chest hurt a bit. He didn't like being in this house at all.

_Ellie:  
_All the morning she had been silent, politely eating her breakfast Olivia had made for all of them, not letting her notice she had burned it. Everyone seemed to have loved the girl's breakfast, except for Ellie, so Ellie guessed Olivia had let her breakfast burn on purpose. She often did that, because the two girls often not could get along.  
There had been no school today, because it was the day before Christmas. Ellie hated days like these because school took her mind of things. Having no school all day made her grow bored and lonely. Her only friends she had she always saw at school. Not that Anastasia wasn't a friend of hers, but she couldn't really consider her as a friend either because the girl was often very silent, and tried to stay out of conversations. She seemed to get along nice with the new boy called Yuki, though; Ellie was glad.  
She stepped off her bike, parking it somewhere before entering a shop; tomorrow it would be Christmas, and it would be Olivia's birthday as well. Ellie had to buy her a present. She wasn't one to boy sexy lingerie, though, so she decided to buy something simple but nice for the girl.  
She wasn't sure yet what to buy for Olivia, but she probably would find out soon enough.  
It was a big shop, almost like Wall-Mart, but Ellie hadn't paid attention to the shop's name. She just stepped in and walked around the stacks, searching for anything she could buy.  
''Maybe I could buy makeup for her. Or knives. I heard she likes knives… Or maybe just some usual clothing, like a tank top or whatever.'', Ellie spoke to herself, glancing around the shop, trying to find the items she had named.

She didn't pay attention, she didn't notice anything. Walking through the shop with her mind somewhere else she ended up near the clothing, searching through it for something nice. Suddenly something felt wrong, however, and she searched in her jeans for her wallet; it was gone.  
_''What? Oh no!''_, she thought worriedly, turning around quickly and staring around the shop, shocked. _''Hell no! Oh damn! I was robbed!''  
_Ellie hurried towards the front of the store, pushing people out of the way as she went over to the checkout counters.  
''Hey! Watch out!'', someone yelled at her angrily and pushed her back, but Ellie could care less. With widened eyes and a worried look on her face she hurried up to a boy from around her age, standing behind the counter.  
''Um, can I help you-''  
''My wallet was stolen from me! Please, I need your help!'', she said and the boy tried to calm her, lifting his hands and moving them as if to say she needed to stop screaming. ''They might still be here, I need a few people to search for the person.''  
''Do you know what they looked like?'', the boy asked, trying to get the details, but Ellie shrugged and shook her head. ''Then I'm afraid I can't help you… I'm sorry ma'am.''

''Shit.'', Ellie cursed, leaving the waiting line for the checkout counter and she scrambled around the store once more, a scared look in her eyes. _''Í gotta get my wallet back or I might not be able to buy Olivia a present and then she will kill me…!''  
_She moved around like a headless chicken, turning her head from left to right, trying to find anyone who behaved differently. But there was no one who seemed suspicious in her eyes.  
Ending up at the female changing rooms in the clothing section she leaned her back against the walls and groaned in disappointment, slowly dropping her body to the ground, until she sat. _''This is horrible! I will never be able to find them back now! They stole my wallet and I have no idea who it is! All my money, gone!''_  
A girl left one of the changing rooms, staring at herself in the mirror as she tried on a tank top which was too tight for her body. The way the girl stood there and looked at herself, the type of clothes she wore, Ellie recognized her; it was Olivia.  
''O-Olivia!'', Ellie shrieked out, jumping to her feet and wrapping her arms around the girl's neck. ''Something horrible happened, someone stole my wallet!''  
Olivia looked angrily at her, pushing her away. Ellie stood there in shock as Olivia took out a wallet from her pocket; Olivia didn't have a money, nor a wallet, it actually surprised Ellie she was even here trying on stuff.  
''You mean this thing; I borrowed it because you never buy me anything nice. I thought, if I get your wallet and buy a present for myself with your money, we can pretend you bought it for me and made my birthday a lot better. What do you think?'', Olivia asked, a grin spread across her face.

''You bitch!'', Ellie yelled, boiling with anger, and she grabbed her wallet, pulling it out of Olivia's hands. ''Never do this again! You scared the shit out of me by doing this! If you wanted to choose a birthday present yourself you should have told me instead of stealing my wallet!''  
''Don't be like this; it was a surprise.'', Olivia said and she grinned even more. Ellie sighed and punched the girl's shoulder with her fist, rather hard.  
''You silly creature- Let's get you a present then, I guess.'', she said, a slight smile appearing on her face; she had calmed down again. ''But if you want to buy sexy lingerie with my money, I gotta say no, because it's still my money.''  
''Fine then, what about this tank top I'm wearing? Isn't it beautiful? I will take it.'', Olivia said, pointing at the outfit she was wearing. Ellie looked at it and nodded in approval, wrapping her arm around Olivia's shoulder.  
''Fine then, you hoe. Get yourself dressed into your normal clothes and I will buy it for you. Takes some stress away from me, because I was already worried about what I could buy for you.'', Ellie said and she chuckled. Olivia pulled herself free from her arm and giggled, nodding and stepping into the female's changing room, hiding herself from public again.  
''I knew you would like my idea.'', she said from behind the closed curtains and Ellie laughed, shaking her head. _''She's really an idiotic girl at times. I wonder if it's just guts or stupidity…''_


	7. Chapter 5 - Christmas

**Month: December  
Day: Wednesday  
Special event: Christmas**

_Benny:  
_''Breakfast everyone!'', Benny called out as he let the sausages slit onto the dishes, together with fresh baked eggs and bacon, and some apples, bananas and pears to finish it all off. ''Come on, won't call twice!''  
_''Well, I actually did, but it doesn't matter.''_, he thought as he brought all the dishes with goods to the dining room, putting them on the table. _''Christmas morning… Why does it have to be Olivia's birthday? She could have made us a better breakfast if it wasn't her birthday today.''_  
''Guys, come on!'', he yelled again, angrily placing empty glasses and cups onto the table. ''Breakfast is getting cold!''  
''Cold you say? What did you make?''  
Benny looked up to see it was Brad, a huge grin spread across the boy's face. He stepped into the dining room, followed by Benjamin and little Yuki who was holding his cat plushy. Benny smiled at the boy, waving his hand. Yuki looked at him but hid his face behind his plushy, blushing. _''He's so adorable. Now I know why Anastasia loves spending time with him.''  
_Benny sat down at the table, staring at the still hot sausages on his dish. _''If only she wasn't afraid of boys and would spend time with me… But she's afraid of me…''  
_''Why the long face, man? You made great breakfast.'', Benjamin said, laughing as Brad almost suffocated onto a sausage. He quickly hit the boy on the back, patting it hard. '''Get it out man, I don't want your dying breath in my face.''

Benny watched as Brad spit out the half eaten sausage and he groaned, looking at Brad who was now coughing and stomping Benjamin's shoulder.  
''Shut up you ass! I literally almost died! Don't laugh!'', he yelled angry, scaring little Yuki who was crying at the corner of the table. Benny looked worried at the boy, getting to his feet and moving over to him. Yuki however didn't really want anything to do with him, staring silently at him, shocked. _''Poor thing…''  
_Benny touched his shoulders lightly, kneeling down beside him at the table and looking at him, smiling brightly. ''There there, it's fine. Don't worry about him; he can be an ass but he will never hurt you. I promise.'', he said, patting Yuki's head. ''Don't be afraid, we're all family here.''  
''We're not…'', Yuki whispered and Benny looked confused at him. ''We're all troubled children, from different families, we aren't brothers, we aren't real family… We shouldn't even been born, most of us…''  
''Don't say that. we are family in this house, okay? We only have each other now and so we gotta stick together. Okay?'', Benny said but Yuki shook his head, holding his cat plushy Mr. Whiskers tighter.  
''Brad doesn't stick together with others…'', Yuki mumbled and Benny chuckled, squeezing the boy's shoulders. He said in response: ''Because Brad is a lone wolf; he doesn't really care about others. But you can count on Anastasia, and me.''  
Benny winked at Yuki, who smiled at him weakly, still holding his plushy way too tight. One of the cat's green eyes was hanging by a small thread, it looked like it would break and fall off soon. ''Why don't you ask Anastasia to help you fix Mr. Whiskers' eye? I'm sure she would love to help you.''

''Maybe…'', Yuki mumbled and Benny patted his shoulder one last time, still smiling at him, before returning to his own seat, grabbing his fork and eating his breakfast. It was still rather hot and he burned his tongue for a moment, but after a while he could take the burning feeling.  
In the meantime the others had come to the dining room to eat as well, except for Olivia. ''Where is Olive?'', Benny asked and Anastasia shot a serious look at him, like she was telling him not to use that nickname. Benny knew Olivia hated the nickname Olive, and he knew she could kill anyone who called her it, but she wasn't here right now, so actually he didn't really care.  
''She's still in her room. She can't choose the right outfit for today.'', Ellie said, taking a bite off her bacon. ''Guess she wants to show off it's her birthday today. Like every year.''  
''Show off? Me? No way~'', a girl's voice suddenly said and everyone looked at the doorway; Olivia stood there, resting against the wall, wearing a too tight tank top like always, and a very short skirt and long boots leading up to just below her knees. ''Morning all, do I look good?''  
''Yeah, you look fine.'', Benny said, looking away and staring at his breakfast.  
''You look damn hawt gurl~'', Brad said and he grinned, Benny groaned in irritation and felt like saying something, but instead he kept his mouth shut.  
''Thanks, _babe_.'', Olivia said, winking at Brad who's grin got bigger, and she came to the table and sat down on an empty seat, staring at her dish. ''Looking good, I shall dig in now. Oh by the way, don't you guys have anything to say to me right now?''  
''Yes, merry Christmas.'', Brad said and Olivia threw a sausage at him, looking furious. Brad dodged it and laughed, slamming the table. ''Sorry missy; I meant happy birthday. You really thought we would forget? You kept on bragging about it all week!''  
_''If only they would remember my birthday… they never do…''_

_Ellie:  
''6pm… Dinner is almost ready. Gotta finish it quick.''_, Ellie thought as she took the turkey out of the oven, cutting some more vegetables after putting it on the counter. She hurried herself across the kitchen, now and then checking the dining room to see how Anastasia, Yuki and Benny were doing with decorating the Christmas tree; as always the kids were too late with buying a Christmas tree and decorating it, but Ellie had gotten used to it because it happened almost every year.  
''Hurry up everyone! Dinner is almost ready!'', she said as she grabbed the turkey and brought it to the dining room, placing it in the middle on the table.  
Brad, Zeleb and Olivia entered the dining room now as well and while Brad stood there watching Ann, Yuki and Benny decorating the Christmas tree, Olivia sat down at the dining table, texting someone with a plain empty face.  
Zeleb sat down too but still looked at how they decorated the tree together, smiling weakly. Ellie smiled as well; Zeleb barely smiled these days.  
''Is everyone here?'', she asked and Zeleb nodded, while Brad put on a stupid-looking Christmas hat.  
''Yes we all are! Let the party begin!'', he yelled and he ran to the table, sitting down. ''I want the chicken butt!''  
''It's turkey…'', Ellie said and Brad chuckled, waving with his hand and saying: ''Yeah, that's what they want you to think.''  
Ellie couldn't help but laugh and she poked Brad in his shoulder with her fist, giggling. Brad simply shrugged and stared at the turkey, like he couldn't wait to dig in, but was forcing himself to keep his hands off of it.

''Is the tree almost ready?'', she asked as she looked at the three others. Anastasia nodded as Benny picked up Yuki and pulled the boy on his shoulders, so they could put the big golden star on the top. After that Benny put the boy down on the ground again, smiling and patting his shoulder.  
''Good work man, go sit down.'', he said and Yuki nodded, smiling brightly, and he ran towards the table, finding a seat.  
Ellie looked at Benny, worried; something was off about him. He looked different, his eyes seemed distant. He seemed sad. She walked up to him as Anastasia passed her, finding a seat as well, and ended up near Benny, touching his back lightly and looking at him.  
''You okay?'', she asked him and Benny looked at her, the smile fading off his face; he just shrugged. ''Don't lie to me, okay? Something's wrong.''  
''It's nothing.'', Benny said simply and he walked passed her, pushing her hand away, ignoring her comfort. Instead of sitting down at the dining table like everyone else he left the dining room. Everyone now looked at Ellie who shrugged and started moving, following the boy.  
She went after im till she saw him enter his bedroom and close the door. There wasn't the sound of a door being locked, so she knew he had kept the door opened for anyone to come on. She reached the door and knocked trice before entering, not waiting for a response from Benny.

''Hey, you wanna talk…?'', she asked, seeing Benny, sitting on his bed with his knees pulled up to his chin, his arms wrapped around his legs. He just stared, his brown eyes distant, he shook his head slightly. ''You sure? I wanna know what's bothering you. maybe talking might help you cheer up a little.''  
She walked over to him, sitting down beside him on the bed. ''It's Christmas Benny, please smile.'', she said, touching his shoulder once, trying to look him in the eyes, but he looked away.  
''I just miss my mother…'', he whispered and Ellie smiled comfortingly, squeezing his shoulder slightly.  
''See, so that's up. I knew something was bothering you.'', she said and Benny shrugged again, not looking at her. ''Doesn't it make you feel better, talking about it?''  
''Yeah, I guess…'', he said and he looked at Ellie, still this same distant look in his eyes. ''I guess you miss your parents, too, don't you?''  
Ellie nodded, staring at the ground for a moment before looking back up at Benny, trying to forget the horrible thoughts about her parents' dead. She whispered: ''Yeah, I do… but that doesn't matter now. I'm here because right now all that matters is you. You seem sad and I want to help you.''  
''Why?'', he asked and Ellie shrugged again, smiling.  
''Because we're friends, and friends care for each other.'', she said, staring Benny in the eyes. ''You're coming for dinner?''  
''I'm not hungry, you can go eat without me…'', he said but Ellie shook her head. _''I don't want to go eat without it him, that would be rude. I want to see him happy on Christmas Eve.''_  
Suddenly she kissed him on his lips. She didn't know why. She just did. They stared at each others, both deeply in shock  
''Why…?''  
''I'm sorry, I didn't mean it… I will go eat now. I hope you will come, too…'', Ellie said and she got up, ready to leave his bedroom. But Benny got up as well and grabbed her hand, stopping her from going away.  
''M-merry Christmas Ellie…'', he said, kissing her on her cheek. Ellie looked at him with widened eyes but her expression softened, she smiled at him.  
''Yeah, merry Christmas… Dingo.'', she said but Benny shook his head, squeezing her hand.  
''No, call me Benny. Merry Christmas.''


End file.
